Chotipatoomwan elected to use red oak for the chair because she was fascinated by its grain. ‘It’s quite expressive and I was interested in its porous nature,’ she says. ‘To begin with I thought I was going to steam bend lots of components, so it’s good for that too. My design has a lot of curves.’ The team at Fowseng were concerned that steam bending would affect the elasticity of the wood so different sections were cut out instead. ‘It was very complicated to make,’ says the company’s technical manager.’ There were a plethora of different angles for the separate pieces of wood.’